Bibliographical Notice. 155 



where the fusiform space is broadest, there is a small rounded 

 pit just outside that space ; and immediately behind each, there 

 is a still smaller pit. Near the middle of the length of the 

 abdomen is another pair of pits, which are further apart than 

 the anterior pair. All of these pits have a chestnut-brown co- 

 lour. At each side of the anterior end of the fusiform space is 

 a black blotch, and between them is a small patch of yellowish 

 brown. On the underside of the abdomen there is a longitu- 

 dinal brownish band at each side of, but at some distance from, 

 the median line. These bands are furthest apart at the middle ; 

 they approximate, but do not meet, as they approach the spin- 

 nerets. As to the legs and palpi, the uppersides of the five 

 distal joints of the former and of the three distal joints of the 

 latter are orange, which is very intense on the palpi and the two 

 anterior legs. The undersides of the legs and palpi are black, 

 and of this colour are also the falces, maxillse, labrum, and 

 sternum. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 



English Botany ; or. Coloured Figures of British Plants. Third 

 Edition. Enlarged, rearranged according to the Natural Orders, 

 and entirely revised ; with descriptions of all the Species. 8vo. 

 London : R. Hardwicke. 1863. 



We have waited for the completion of the first volume of this great 

 work before taking any notice of it. Now that seven monthly num- 

 bers have been issued and a volume completed, the proper time has 

 arrived for a few remarks. It is quite unnecessary to say anything 

 concerning the original ' English Botany,' projected and the plates 

 executed by James Sowerby and accompanied by descriptions (each 

 limited to one small page) from the pen of Sir J. E. Smith. It was, 

 and even now continues to be, the most complete illustration of the 

 flora of any country which has appeared. But, having been com- 

 menced in the year 1790 and concluded in 1814, the descriptive 

 part has long been somewhat obsolete, and interesting chiefly for the 

 many curious historical facts to be learned from it. Its technical 

 accounts of the plants were meagre, even when published, aud are 

 now very far from furnishing the information expected by botanists. 

 Also the plates are not always such as we now desire : the dissected 

 parts are not magnified to a proper extent, and many things required 

 in the present state of science are altogether wanting. It also appears, 

 from an examination of the original drawings from which the plates 

 were engraved, that alterations were often made by Smith, which 

 have sometimes been very unwise. He has occasionally altered 

 Sowerby' s drawing to correspond tolerably with the plant known to 

 him, whereas an examination of the original Sketch shows that the 

 artist and the author had different plants in view. Again, the want 



